Chapter 2

Autumn returned to her desk, set the documents down, took out her phone, and snapped a photo of the divorce agreement.

She sent it to her mother-in-law, Grace Palmer.

The day after her diagnosis, she had already gone to discuss the divorce with Grace.

Grace couldn’t wait for Julian to divorce her.

Then, he could finally be with Luna, the heiress of the Lewis family.

A solid alliance with a powerful family was far more appealing.

And now that Autumn was terminally ill with no telling how long she could live, there was even less reason to keep her in the Carter family.

So, Grace promised that as long as Autumn could get Julian to sign the divorce papers, she’d give her six million as compensation.

The reply came back almost instantly.

“Got it.”

Autumn slipped the diagnosis and divorce agreement into her bag, then opened a drawer.

Inside was a resignation letter she had typed, printed, and set aside two days earlier, ready to be submitted.

Since she had made up her mind to leave, there was no point dragging it out.

Clean cuts hurt less.

She picked up the resignation letter along with a stack of signed documents and headed toward the CFO’s office.

Frank Miller, the CFO, a well-dressed middle-aged man with glasses, looked up in surprise when she handed over the letter.

His expression immediately turned anxious.

“Ms. Lewis, you're resigning?”

Autumn had been one of his most trusted assets for years—the one person he could always count on.

Her presence had made his own position far more secure.

If she left, what would he do?

Autumn nodded. “Yes. Thank you for all your support these past few years.”

Because her marriage to Julian was kept private, very few people at the company knew about it.

Frank tugged lightly at her sleeve. “Is it the salary? I can put in a request for a raise and promotion!”

Autumn gave a small laugh. “It’s not about that.”

“You’re really sure about this?”

“Yes. I’ve made up my mind.”

She had already decided to walk away from Julian.

There was no reason to stay in his company any longer.

Seeing how firm Autumn was, the words Frank wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

He sighed, pulled out a pen, and signed the form.

After putting the pen away, he asked, “What’s the reason for your resignation?”

Autumn answered honestly, “I’m sick. Between work and health, my health matters more.”

A flash of shock crossed his face, and he said nothing more.

The resignation process took a month, and so did the divorce cooling-off period.

In one month, she would finally be free.

After getting off work and returning home, Autumn tore off the first page of the old-fashioned calendar she’d bought yesterday, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the trash.

On the fresh new page, two bold red characters stood out—today was July 1st.

One month from now, on August 1st, she would completely leave this home.

Zoe Jones walked over with a plate of fruit, glanced at the calendar on the coffee table, and curiously asked, “Ma’am, is there a special reason you bought this kind of calendar?”

Autumn smiled and replied, “My birthday’s coming up. I’m using it to remind myself.”

Zoe looked a little doubtful.

Wouldn’t a phone reminder do the job?

Who still used paper calendars nowadays?

Though suspicious, Zoe didn’t press further.

She set the fruit down and went back to the kitchen.

“Oh, right.”

As she reached the kitchen doorway, she turned back, hesitating slightly. “Ma’am, I just called Mr. Carter. He said he has a dinner engagement tonight and won’t be home for dinner.”

Autumn plucked a grape, popped it into her mouth, and mumbled, “Mm, got it.”

Zoe was a little surprised.

In the past, whenever Julian didn’t come home and said he had a dinner engagement, Autumn would grow paranoid and call him dozens of times to check in.

Every little detail had to be accounted for.

At her most extreme, she’d even gone as far as installing tracking software on his phone.

No one knew what exactly happened after that, but she ended up in the ICU from a suicide attempt.

But today, she seemed unusually calm, not even a single outburst.

And when things seemed too quiet, something was definitely brewing.

The phone on the coffee table buzzed.

Autumn glanced at it.

It was a call from her cousin, Zack Lewis.

She slid to answer, and his cautious voice came through. "Autumn, are you off work now? Are you busy?"

She glanced at the apple slice in her hand. "Not busy. I just got off. What’s up?"

Zack hesitated for a moment, then said, "Well, I got a promotion and a raise. And Mom and Dad said they haven’t seen you in a while. We were hoping you’d join us for dinner tonight."

"Sure," she replied.

"I’ll come pick you up."

After hanging up, Autumn got to her feet.

She told Zoe she’d be going out and wouldn’t be home for dinner, then left the villa.

Zoe watched her from behind, wanting to say something but holding back.

“Damn it,” she thought. “I knew it. With how controlling she’s always been with Mr. Carter, how could she just sit still?”

It turned out, Autumn was planning something big.

…

As Autumn walked, she glanced down at the message Zack had just sent her.

His car had run out of gas, so he asked her to wait a little.

Autumn replied with a simple "okay."

Zack was the son of her third uncle, three years older than her.

He was twenty-seven this year and still single, much to the frustration of his parents.

Every time they urged him to settle down, Zack would let it go in one ear and out the other.

He never took the matter seriously.

Autumn rarely kept in touch with the rest of the Lewis family, but she remained close to her third uncle’s household.

Her uncle and aunt, unable to have a daughter of their own, had always doted on Autumn like she was theirs.

Back when her mother walked away from the marriage without taking a cent and moved out of the Lewis home, it was her third uncle’s family who supported them through those hard times.

They were the ones who had truly stood by her and her mother.

She stepped out of the residential complex, and within minutes, her phone rang.

It was Zack.

"Autumn, it’s rush hour now. A friend of mine happens to be passing by your area, so I asked him to pick you up."

Before he even finished speaking, a black Bentley pulled up in front of her.

Before she could react, the window rolled down.

What appeared was a face that felt both familiar and distant.

Still holding her phone, Autumn forced herself to speak.

"I think... I see him."

The man had sharp, defined features.

He wore a black shirt with the sleeves rolled high, revealing his strong forearms.

As he lifted his eyes to look at her, memories from five years ago surfaced.

Back then, the girl used to follow him around with a textbook in hand, calling his name sweetly, and begging him to explain things to her.

Now, after all these years, the innocence from her youth had faded, replaced by a touch of quiet maturity.

She wore a fitted smoky lavender dress, her hair pulled up into a high ponytail.

There was a flicker of hesitation in her eyes.

She was much thinner than he remembered.

His gaze, already deep, darkened further.

Then his lips parted, and he said just two words.

"Get in."